Party Foul - Abby Knox Page 0,12
she made his whole miserable life turn upside down for the span of about ten minutes.
But he was a dunce who was too proud to ask for her number.
“I worry about you. You don’t seem settled.”
“I’ve been out for years. Believe me, I’m settled.”
His grandmother cut up the breakfast casserole a little too aggressively and handed him a slice on a paper plate.
“I have dishes, you know.”
“I know, but I don’t want to wash dirty dishes,” she said.
Levi burned the roof of his mouth he was so hungry. “This is my place, I wash my own dishes,” he said through a mouthful of food.
The old woman scoffed. “You’re so lonely in here, you got no art on the walls. I knew you should have moved back home after all that mess.”
He didn’t bother to point out that this apartment, with its humble yet functional kitchenette, full bath and Murphy bed in the living room was part of her property. So technically, he still lived with her. “I did.”
“For five minutes.”
“For a year, until this place was finished.”
She poured herself more coffee. “A year, five minutes. It all seems like seconds when you’re a worried grandmother.”
“So don’t worry.”
“Worrying is what I do. It means I haven’t given up on you.”
Before thinking, Levi said, “I wouldn’t blame you if you did.”
His grandmother pointed the wood-handled knife at him. “Now you listen to me. You are my only family I have left.”
YaYa was one who wore her emotions on her sleeve, and she tended toward the dramatic. Levi’s father was to blame for the stoic gene. So stoic it drove him to an early grave, his mother had claimed. Never showed emotions. Never talked about what he was feeling. Nobody could ever tell what he was thinking. He never laid a hand on Levi in punishment. But he also never said things that needed saying. Like I love you, or I’m proud of you.
“I know Dad was still disappointed with me. I was still locked up when he died.”
YaYa wagged the knife at her grandson.
“He loved you. He was proud that you turned yourself in, confessed, and did your time.”
Levi knew she meant well; she meant to build him up when she said stuff like that, but the end result only enhanced his guilty feelings for losing so much time, with both of his parents.
“What father could even look at his son after what I confessed to doing?”
He could see that his grandmother was losing patience with him. Her brows knitted together as she said, “As you well know, there are plenty of people in prison for doing less than what you did. Some who did nothing at all.”
“Yeah, I know.”
YaYa placed one hand on her hip; Levi looked up sheepishly as her voice grew louder. “I didn’t come over here to have an intense heart-to-heart, my dear. I just wanted to make breakfast with you and let you know I’ve been thinking about you. And to tell you don’t be afraid to start dating again. You might be surprised that some women are very understanding and forgiving these days for a man’s dustup with the law.”
Levi nodded and went back to eating his casserole now that it wasn’t so hot it burned his mouth. “I know. I’ve seen that reality TV show and I don’t want anybody who’s into me just because I’m an ex-con. Seems like a weird obsession to me.”
“All I’m saying is it might do you some good to get out and stop fussing over me. I only have so much that needs to be fixed around the house. You need someone to occupy your time. And you don’t have any privacy here. You want your grandmother to know who’s coming and going from your apartment all the time?”
Wolfing down his entire breakfast, Levi said with a smile, “Maybe I’ll get a dog.”
The truth was, he’d barely stopped thinking about that girl Fiona’s pillowy, sensuous lips since he’d met her last night. And that’s about all he could handle recollecting while in the same room as his grandmother.
Maybe she was right. Maybe he did need to move out. Enough time had passed that maybe some of these landlords in the neighborhood might have come around on the idea to renting to him.
As far as he could tell, there were a lot of empty warehouses abandoned by the canning industry that developers bought up, rehabbed in to luxury lofts, and were sitting empty. Levi had no delusions he’d be able